Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph was begun by Adriaen van der Werff and completed after his death by his former pupil, Henrik van Limborch. The painting exemplifies the meticulously detailed fijnschilder technique and cool, classicizing style that were especially popular among collectors and connoisseurs during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Van der Werff has interpreted the biblical scene of Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph quite literally; the classical restraint of his composition underscores the sober drama of the moment (compare West's Jacob Blessing Ephraim and Manasseh of 1766, AMAM inv. 61.70). Jacob's muscular bared torso recalls van der Werff's use of engravings after classical statues as sources for his heroic figures; although an exact model for the figure of Jacob in this painting has not been identified, it is reasonably close to an engraving after a Roman statue of the Tiber, published in François Perrier's Icones et segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum (Paris, 1638).1 The technical virtuosity exhibited in the minute detail and enamel-like surfaces of the Oberlin painting exemplifies the conscious refinement of Dutch fijnschilder (literally, "fine painter") paintings, prized by collectors and connoisseurs throughout Europe during the late seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth century.2

Consistently catalogued since the eighteenth century as a work by Adriaen van der Werff and acquired by the museum as such in 1963, more recent publications have raised doubts about the authorship of the Oberlin painting. Snoep accepted the painting as by van der Werff, but noted that it was neither signed nor dated (an unusual feature in van der Werff's oeuvre), and did not appear in the detailed list of autograph works that the artist made between 1699 and 1722.3 On stylistic grounds, Gaehtgens proposed van der Werff's pupil, Henrik van Limborch, as the author of the piece, citing the distinctive facial types, poses, and handling of the drapery as more characteristic of van Limborch than of his master.4 The publication of van Limborch's studio diary Notitie der dagelijxe schilderoeffening (Memorandum of Daily Painting Practice) proves that the Oberlin painting was one of ten works begun by van der Werff and completed after his death by his former pupil.5 Although not an unusual practice for this period, such meticulous documentation is rare.

In his memorandum book, covering the years 1716 to January 1732, van Limborch described all the paintings he worked on and the time spent on each; he may have gotten the idea from a similar record kept by van der Werff.6 Van Limborch worked on the Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph for a total of thirty-two and one-half days between 28 March 1727 and 1 May 1728; and on the pendant, Hagar Humbling Herself before Sarah and Abraham, for thirty-one days between 27 March 1727 and 19 May 1728.7 What is not clear is how much of the actual painting had been completed by van der Werff before the panel passed into van Limborch's hands. The seamless execution of Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph asserts van Limborch's conscious "matching" of his technique to that of his master.

The later date now given to the painting--completed in 1728, rather than the former terminus ante quem imposed by van der Werff's death in 1722--is also significant in terms of the use of Prussian blue pigment in the curtain at upper left. First discovered by a German chemist in 1704, the pigment seems to have been for sale in Berlin by 1710, and was certainly available in Amsterdam by 1722. Richard Buck stated that the appearance of Prussian blue in Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph could constitute the earliest documented use of the pigment, and suggested that van der Werff's ties with the German court may have given him access to the pigment at an early date.8 By 1727-28, however, when the Oberlin painting was completed by Henrik van Limborch, Prussian blue pigment was readily available commercially.

M. E. Wieseman

BiographySon of a well-to-do miller and city alderman, Adriaen van der Werff was born in Kralingen, now part of Rotterdam, on 21 January 1659. He was apprenticed to the painter Cornelis Picolet in 1669-70, but his study with the fijnschilder ("fine painter") Eglon Hendrik van der Neer (ca. 1634-1703) between 1671 and 1676 had a more visible impact on his art. The artist married Margareta Rees in 1687. He served as dean of the Rotterdam St. Luke's Guild between 1691 and 1695, and held several important civic posts between 1706 and his death in 1722. From 1696 to 1716 van der Werff was employed by Johan Willem, Elector Palatinate, in Düsseldorf, although he continued to reside in Rotterdam. He was richly rewarded for his services; he was made court painter in 1697, and knighted in 1703.

During the early part of his career, van der Werff painted fashionable genre scenes and portraits; his meticulous and refined technique earned him the patronage of many influential collectors. From the mid 1690s he painted an increasing number of history paintings--including large decorative works--in a more classicizing style. Among van der Werff's pupils was his younger brother Pieter (1661/65-1722). A studio journal kept by the artist records the hours he and his brother worked on individual paintings, including copies after Adriaen's original compositions.9

Henrik van Limborch was born in The Hague, the second son of a prosperous lawyer. He was a pupil of Robert Duval (1644-1732) and Jan de Baen (1633-1702) in The Hague, then studied with Adriaen van der Werff in Rotterdam from 1699 to 1702. He returned to The Hague in 1702 and lived there, unmarried, until his death in 1739. Van Limborch painted primarily portraits and history paintings, both small cabinet pictures and large-scale decorative works. In addition to his own paintings, van Limborch added figures in landscapes by Johan van Gool (1687-1763), and completed pictures by his former master Adriaen van der Werff after the latter's death in 1722.

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1980-81. Gods, Saints and Heroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt. 2 November - 4 January (also shown at The Detroit Institute of Arts, and Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). Cat. no. 72.

Smith, John A. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. Vol. 4. London,1833, p. 212, no. 114 (as at Sans Souci). Vol. 9. London, 1842, p. 558, no. 30 (as in the Museum at Berlin).

Technical Data
The oak panel is slightly chamfered on all sides. There is a split 8.2 cm (3 1/4 in.) long extending up from the bottom edge, about 2 cm (3/4 in.) from the right side of the panel. The panel is covered by a thin ground, composed of three layers: a bottom layer of light brown, then a light pink layer (possibly ochre and lead white), and a top layer of brown. The ground is covered by an opaque paint layer. The oil medium used for both the ground and paint layers probably contains some resin, making both layers easily soluble. The blue pigment used in the curtain at upper left has been identified as Prussian blue, and was previously thought to represent one of the earliest known uses of this pigment in the Netherlands.11 Infrared examination reveals changes in Joseph's proper left hand and in Manasseh's robe; no underdrawing is visible. A few small, scattered flake losses in the paint surface have been inpainted. Surface grime was removed and the varnish reformed in 1990; although the varnish is somewhat yellowed, the solubility of the paint and ground preclude more thorough cleaning. On the verso of the panel is the wax seal of the Königliche Museen, Berlin.

Footnotes1. On van der Werff's use of classical models, see Barbara Gaehtgens, "Paradigmata Graphices: Adriaen van der Werff and the Model Books of Jan de Bisschop and François Perrier," Print Review 5 (1976), pp. 44-57. Van der Werff used Perrier's engraving of the river god as a model for the figure of Abraham in two versions of Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham, the first done in 1696 (St. Petersburg, Hermitage, inv. 1064) and the second in 1699 (Schleißheim, Staatsgalerie, inv. 261), a composition closely related to Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph. See Barbara Gaehtgens, Adriaen van der Werff (Munich, 1987), pp. 138, 270-71 and 279, cat. nos. 45 and 51.